Contact name turns Red then Blue when sending an iMessage

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Level 1

4 points

Contact name turns Red then Blue when sending an iMessage

Greetings, I have a iPhone 13Pro Max, 256GB. Recently I sent a video from IG to save and review later.

I received an error message indicating the message could not be sent, I noticed there was another

contact included on the message contacts "p{null}. I deleted the message and after that whenever I send a message to myself the contact turns Red then Blue, which never did prior to this. Based on my experience typically if the recipient has an iPhone the contact name is Blue and if an Android phone or the message is sent as a text message the contact name is Green. I used an iPad to send a message to myself and the contact name stays Blue. Please advise what can I do to determine if my phone has been hacked. Thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from you and resolving this issue. Thanks

iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 3, 2025 1:12 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 3, 2025 1:35 PM in response to MOS88

If you're sending a message from your iPhone to someone who is using iMessages, it should be blue. The exception would be if they don't have an active data connection. If you send a message to someone with an iPhone who is not using iMessages or to an Android, it should be green.

You've added two other wrinkles to this, though. On its own, your iPad can only send iMessages. In order for it to send messages to someone not using iMessage, you have to have set up Text Message Forwarding on your iPhone.

Sending messages to yourself from your iPhone should be blue.

I'm not sure what's turning red in the scenario you're describing. Regarding the weird other contact, I suspect you did what I do all the time. I pick a contact and then start typing without tapping on the message entry box first. It will leave you with a few letters that are meaningless. The phone will try to send something to them but it can't.

I suggest you also go to Settings>Apps>Messages and make sure that "Send as SMS" is enabled.

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Answer 2

Sep 5, 2025 9:01 AM in response to MOS88

MOS88 wrote:

I don't have a "Send as SMS" My other choice are RCS Messaging, which is disabled. Thoughts? Thanks

Yes, you have that setting. It's right above the RCS Messaging settings.

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Answer 3

MOS88 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 4, 2025 3:28 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

Hi IdrisSeabright,

Thank you for your quick response. I agree the To: Contact Name has always been Blue when sending messages from IG to myself from my iPhone. As for accidentally typing the additional To: Contact Name I would need to select the characters I mentioned from two different screens. Regarding the iPad I forward the messages from my iPhone to track the messages and when sending a Test message from the iPad the To: My Contact Name remains Blue. On my iPhone the To: My Contact Name turns Red for ~1 sec then to Blue which it never did before sending the video from IG. I checked in my settings, which have not changed and indicates Send as a MMS, I don't have a "Send as SMS" My other choice are RCS Messaging, which is disabled. Thoughts? Thanks

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Answer 4

MOS88 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 10, 2025 6:38 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

Hello Idris,

Thank you for your patience, my mistake, it is there and I will enable it. However it still does not explain the temp color change in the To: contact name from Red to Blue when sending iMessages to my self, very strange to say the least. Thanks

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Contact name turns Red then Blue when sending an iMessage

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